La Belle Sauvage - Lavery/Pullman - Bridge Theatre 2020

Just managed to get a decent £15 seat in the Cyber Monday TodayTix sale for first preview tomorrow. I loved the HDM books and have been enjoying the TV series, though I didn't catch the original stage production. I've not read La Belle Sauvage as I wanted to experience it on stage first, so I am looking forward to it.

I caught the magnificent Life of Pi last week, so I know I am going to find myself subconsciously comparing the two (puppetry, water effects, boat etc), so this needs to be truly outstanding to top what I saw last week!

Echoing the thanks - I’ve also just booked the £15 front row for January!

I enjoyed this a lot!

I struggled with the first 10 minutes or so, the exposition felt a little clumsy and I found it hard to follow at times (I’m only familiar with the original 3 books and not this one) but once the story got going I was enthralled.

The puppetry wasn’t the best I’ve seen, and because the animals are so small I’m sure the intricacies of the designs will be lost on those sat in the galleries. I did find it hard to forget the puppeteers were on stage which usually I can do easily - again I think it’s because a lot of the puppets were so small. There were also quite a few problems with the lights within them which I am sure will be rectified as the preview period goes on.

Loved the use of projections, and the design style matching the style of the artwork on the cover of the book was a nice touch.

One thing I didn’t particularly like was there was a lot of crew members in black pushing and pulling set pieces onto and around the stage. They were very distracting. In Life of Pi people on stage were performing similar roles but there was something about them that felt so much more natural and easier to ignore.

It’s the first professional role for the actor playing Malcolm and the audience loved him. I think he needs a bit of time to settle into the role and calm down as he could be a bit shouty at times, but he played the role well and it was very easy to root for him. He reminded me a bit of a young James Corden at times, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Without spoiling, there is also another surprise cast member that the audience absolutely fell in love with every time they were on stage (and was impeccably behaved!)

The £15 front row tickets are a steal. The stage is knee height and the view is perfect.

It really was hard to not compare to Life of Pi and in some ways The Ocean at the End of the Lane, both of which I’d also seen recently. I think La Belle Sauvage was my least favourite of the 3, but I still had a really good evening and would recommend it.

The puppeteer for the Hyena deserves a mention, just constantly creepy.

Michael Sheen’s voice for the hyena in the audio is utterly petrifying. He set a high bar - I am looking forward to seeing how this character comes across on stage.

Caught this yesterday afternoon. I went on a whim as Life of Pi matinee cancelled (was only told on the door at 1:30 and did not have an email stating this which is not very useful)
I have only seen one ep of His Dark Materials so went in knowing little. I found it to be utterly magical and enchanting. The puppetry was so stunning and it was just a visual feast and acted wonderfully. I did just have to go with the story but enjoyed it a lot. Would recommend for anyone and imagine if you know the material you will enjoy it even more.

Who deserved a curtain call!

Very entertaining play, clarified soooo much of the storyline from the books, the Hyena was the stuff of nightmares, the special effects were magical (although the helicopter (and the boat) were hard to see from the upper level). Thoroughly enjoyable.

However, as good as mask signage (and compliance) was, I was disappointed that nobody checked the requested proof of vaccination. First stop was to check tickets, second for security, then that was it.

Julie Atherton! Brilliant she was!

I really enjoyed this today. Knew nothing of the source material and know very little about “His Dark Materials” - although I did see the film adaptation “The Golden Compass” many years ago. As an outsider I was worried I’d not “get it” but I got into the story pretty easily. The cast are all so versatile playing multiple roles and using the puppets. They are very small for the most part so I agree with the earlier comment that sitting closer is probably better (I was at the side three rows back and had a good view), and yes the stagehands were very noticeable and didn’t blend quite as well as other such productions. Really with a bigger budget it would have been amazing to have the boat moving freely, but I guess that would have been costly.

Lots of stuff changed between when I bought the tickets and the date of the performance! I originally bought the ticket in 2020, then it was rescheduled for this year in July 2021. I thought I'd recently received emails mentioning the requirement, but just a recommendation to wear masks. So I guess I can't fault them for not enforcing a policy they no longer have.

Much like everyone else I really liked this! Big fan of the books and the TV show so I know the original trilogy very well. It's kind of exactly what I imagine Nick's HDM was like at the National, just with all the bells and whistles in technology that's moved on.

Though Sam Creasy was great - endearing, engaging and quite moving at times. Loved the puppetry which was done super well. Projections were amazing - the flood sequence at the end of Act 1 was properly breathtaking.
Act 1 is quite slow because there's a lot of plot to get through, but Act 2 very pacy and exciting. Wasn't keen on the plotpoint with Bonneville and I couldn't tell if that was from the book or added in in Laverys adaptation, but for a show thats target audience seems to be families it felt...jarring (as did the bad language - they swore a lot more than I expected. Didn't bother me but the 5 year old in front of me probably heard more swear words than ever before last night!)

4 stars, it'll translate really well to NT Live too - the projections especially.

In the screening an audience member tripped over a camera, giving it quite a jolt.
My favourite visual was the two rows of baby cots. beautiful.